4-Year-Old Special Needs Student Left Alone On School Bus

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - A bus driver and an attendant have both been fired after they left a special needs student on their bus unattended for six hours on Tuesday, according to officials.

9News's Bruce Johnson reports that the incident could have big consequences for the D.C. government, which had been under court order when it comes to transporting special needs students.

Early Tuesday morning, a D.C. school bus left the Southwest terminal to pick up a four year old special needs student.

At 8:52 the bus arrived at the Walker Jones Educational Center in Northwest. But the boy was never taken off the vehicle. He had fallen asleep and wasn't discovered until 2:05 p.m., almost six hours later, still on the bus in his booster seat, shivering, back at the same terminal where the bus began.

A driver and attendant had failed to follow procedures and search their bus at the school and then a second time after parking it back at the terminal.

The child's mother was contacted. School officials say the boy was checked for hypothermia, then released at the hospital.

The case has been turned over to the D.C. attorney general for further investigation.